a "W" on your transcript

[Guest EMHC]

I was wondering why universities tell you that a "W" will appear on your transcript if you don't drop a course by a certain day. Does Med school look at a "W" with a frown?

 

EMHC

[Guest mitchie41]

A "W" would most likely be look at with a frown, unless you can give the adcoms a good reason for withdrawing from a course.

 

But remember that a W is WAY better than a F!

[Guest Phil667]

I don't know how med schools look at W's and F's, but I I were ever put into a position of authority where I was judging transcripts I would say that an F is better than a W. It shows that you aren't a quitter. You are willing to stick it out to the end no matter how much you suck.

 

Just my opinion.

Phil

[Guest peachy]

I very much doubt that an adcom would think that an F is better than a W. One F kills your GPA: even if you get perfect in the rest of your courses, 9 A+'s and 1 F over a year means an average of 3.6! Avoid failing courses, whatever you do!

 

My transcript indicates where I dropped a course once (equivalent to a "W"), and I was asked about it in my U of T interview. I explained why I dropped the course, and it was no big deal...

[Guest EMHC]

Thanks. Greatly appreciate the info.

[Guest Blackbird15]

hey there,

I also have a W in my transcript. This is because I dropped the course after the deadline. I didn't really even think about it afterwards and I don't think it had any effect whatsoever on my application. The schools I applied to only looked at my cumulative GPA. Some schools also look at whether you had a full courseload or not, so if you withdraw from a course and have a less-than-full courseload, you may not be able to count that year toward your GPA for that school, or get a favorable GPA weighing calculation (like at U of T). Hopefully that makes sense!

 

take care,

Blackbird

[Guest drews97]

I had a W from a class I dropped in 2nd year and not only was it not considered in my GPA calculation but I was not asked about it at any of my 3 interviews. Most med school applications give you space to write additional information and you could always include a reason as to why you dropped a course.

[Guest cgb2006]

Hi, I too had a W on my transcript. On applications where I had a chance to give additional information I explained my reasons for withdrawing from the class. On applications where I didn't, I provided no explanation. Thankfully the class wasn't part of my years of full-time study. The W wasn't brought up at any of my interviews.

 

Good luck

[Guest cgb2006]

Just wanted to add: A W is definitely better than an F ....without a doubt

[Guest EMHC]

Thanks for the reply. Now it's really obvious why UBC has the "W" dates written right on student services!!

 

EMHC

[Guest marbledust]

I would say you never, ever want an F. Take a W if you have to. It's not the end of the world. Believe me. And contary to some of the comments posted in this thread, it doesn't make you look like a "quitter." There are a whole variety of reasons why you might need to withdraw from a course (medical, personal, change of educational plans, etc). I personally have 3 of them of my transcripts. It's not that big of a deal. In my interview nobody asked me about them.

[Guest UWOMED2005]

One issue not mentioned here is the effect a W would have on your year's status as a "Full courseload," which is very important at some schools. If you're taking a full 4 course term load, and then drop one to get a W. . . that's no longer a full courseload.

 

As most schools will allow a year or two to not be "full" getting one W, or even a whole lot of Ws in one year won't kill you. But if you get one W for each and every year you're in school. . . you could be cooked.

 

But getting a 'W' is WAY better than an F, or perhaps even a D, in terms of GPA.

[Guest JSS02]

Also, if you get an F (i.e. if you fail, and so don't get credit for that course) and are taking the minimum course load of 5, then you wouldn't be considered to have a full course load either, since you only got 4 or 4.5 credits. So if it comes down to it, an F is always much worse than a W.

[Guest BBlues]

What happens if you have an F on a half course?

Does it matter how close you were to passing?

[Guest peachy]

It doesn't matter how close you were to passing, an F is an F. If you have an F in a half course, then that will be factored into your GPA calculation and hurt a LOT.

 

If you haven't gotten an F, then avoid it at all costs. If you have already gotten an F, then obviously try to make sure it never happens again, but also look into your school's Petitions process--it can't hurt to try to remove the grade from your transcript, even if the chances are slim.

[Guest BBlues]

Petitioning an F? I don't think you can do that, unless you have a legitimate reason right (i.e. illness). ?

[Guest peachy]

You can always petition it, although yes in most cases your petition will be rejected. In my experience, though, having sat on these types of committees, very occasionally if you get a lenient committee looking at the petition then a first-year student can be let off on the excuse of having difficulty of adjusting to university. This probably varies widely by university, and just as widely by Faculty or Department within a university, though.

[Guest BBlues]

But, can you petition the F for any other reason aside from illness? What if they were going through personal problems (like family difficulty)?

[Guest peachy]

Check out your school's petition guidelines. I really only know about the York rules; the rules may or may not be similar at other schools. But at York you can petition anything you want. That's what the petitions process is for -- if you want a special exception because of something strange, and no particular rule applies, then you petition.

 

That doesn't mean that your petition will get passed, it just means that you have the right to submit it. Very few petitions on nonstandard reasons get passed. I'd guess far less than 10%, although that's just a guess. Family reasons in certain cases may be a very valid reason for petitioning; in other cases it might be less valid.

 

Sorry, I didn't mean to give you the impression that there's definitely a way out. Just that you have nothing to lose by looking into the official channels (like petitioning) and potentially much to gain. There should be an office at your school that can help you to understand whether there is a chance of having a petition pass in your situation.

[Guest Kirsteen]

Hi there,

 

The other resource that you might want to pursue, if at UofT in any case, is the university Ombudsperson. They will be able to fill you in on all the details surrounding petitions, and will be able to provide some case histories of petitions similar to your own which were or perhaps were not successful.

 

Cheers,

Kirsteen